Field Level Media
Jun 28, 2018
Brock Holt's bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning scored the go-ahead run as the host Boston Red Sox swept the season series against the Los Angeles Angels with a 4-2 victory Thursday to cap a three-game set at Fenway Park.
Jackie Bradley Jr. clubbed a two-run home run and Rafael Devers added a solo shot as Boston won for the sixth time in seven games.
Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer and Albert Pujols drove in a run for Los Angeles, which has lost six in a row.
Boston won 9-1 in Tuesday's opener and 9-6 on Wednesday. The Red Sox scored at least eight runs in each of their first five meetings with Los Angeles this season before Thursday and outscored them 49-12 in the season series.
Red Sox reliever Hector Velazquez (6-0) picked up the win after striking out three in two scoreless innings. Starter Brian Johnson allowed one run on three hits, walked one batter and struck out two over four frames.
Angels starter Jaime Barria (5-4) pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Simmons smacked his fifth homer of the season with one out in the fourth, putting Los Angeles ahead 1-0. Devers tied the game with his 13th homer to lead off the fifth.
Barria was pulled after walking J.D. Martinez with one out in the sixth. Mitch Moreland doubled off reliever Jose Alvarez, and Xander Bogaerts was intentionally walked to load the bases for Holt, who didn't bite on a 3-2 fastball low and away.
Bradley's sixth homer padded Boston's lead in the seventh.
Pujols' eighth-inning RBI single cut the Angels' deficit to two, but after Joe Kelly stranded two Angels runners in the eighth, Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel struck out three in the ninth for his 24th save.
During the game, the Angels announced that right-handed reliever Jake Jewell (right fibula fracture) will undergo ankle surgery Friday in Los Angeles. The team did not announce a timetable for his return.
The 25-year-old rookie suffered the injury while covering home plate late in Wednesday's game and was carted off on a stretcher.
Angels righty Felix Pena (0-0, 5.40 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series Friday at Baltimore. Red Sox southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez (9-2, 3.86) is on the mound Friday to begin a three-game set at the New York Yankees.
--Field Level Media